Damn you Eric Clapton, it's all your fault!

Want to know how close NK came to having Kim Jung-un's brother as the leader of North Korea?

Read this from a 2010 paper on the Kim family:

Both of Ko Yong-hui’s sons have been groomed as successors. Like Kim Jong-nam, they Jong-chol and Jong-un studied in Switzerland. While they were under the care of the DPRK Ambassador Ri Chol, they went to school in Berne. Jong-chol and Jong-un have studied at Kim Il Sung University and received some form of military education or training. Kim Yo-chong also studied in Berne. Given her age (20) she might currenly be a student at Kim Il Sung University. This may also explain Kim Jong Il’s repeated tours and appearances at the Pyongyang campus in 2009 and 2010.

Kim Jong-chol and Kim Jong-un have both been rumored as hereditary successors. There have been oblique propaganda campaigns conducted in the North Korean press and reports of glorification campaigns in the Korean People’s Army. These publicity efforts were aimed at advancing one of Kim Jong Il’s sons with Ko Yong-hui. For a number of years Kim Jong-chol was the rumored successor, and there are some observers who believe Jong-chol is still a candidate. Jong-chol may have jeopardized his opportunity when Japanese media found him attending a 2006 Eric Clapton concert in Germany.

Currently, Kim Jong-chol is believed to work in the Central Party, possibly at the KWP Propaganda and Agitation Department. Kim Jong-un is widely believed by external observers to be Kim Jong Il’s hereditary successor. He is rumored to have an office in Kim Jong Il’s main office complex in Pyongyang. He has beem rumored to work in the KWP Organization and Guidance Department and the State Security Department.

1. kim jong nam was the brother who passed away recently

2. Yep

Kim Jong-nam, Kim Jong-Il’s oldest son with Song Hye-rim, his first mistress, was born in 1971 and was murdered February 13. He was a half-brother of current leader Kim Jong-un and was once thought to be the heir to rule North Korea.

Kim Jong-chol was born in 1981. He is Kim Jong-um's older brother by 3 years. Apparently he blew his chances to inherit his father's position when he was caught attending an Eric Clapton concert in 2006.